advice

[fish_skywalker]

Any tips for an amature fisherman for fishing without a flasher anything that will help would be greatly appreciated

[bigredonice]

keep moving...when i dont have a flasher, i never sit on a hole for more than a few minutes if i am not catching what i want...i will easily drill 60 or more holes in a day, if i am covering new water, or fishing for scattered fish like mid-winter big perch or shallow-water lake trout.

[Mongo]

How well do you know the body of water you are fishing ???? Also what type of fish are you going after ???

[fish_skywalker]

i know the lakes i fish pretty good im not sure on drops and ledges and so forth i just fish them from shore in summer as far as what im fishing for anything that will bite mostly perch blugils and crappie one place i fish has alot of catfish but im not sure if you can catch them in the winter or not i wouldnt even know what to use for bait

[adkRoy]

Just start fishing the areas and lakes that you do know. Then try new areas. Ask your local baitshops for advice on where to go, what to use. Also see if they have any maps of the lake contours. Another this is to ask people you know who do ice fish what they do or where they go. Finally you are now part of the iceshanty family and if you ask nicely I'm sure someone will take you out and show you how to really catch them there fish! Good luck!

[Knife2sharp]

What about techniques for attracting fish to you?  You can try bouncing your fishing weight on the bottom to stir up the debris and small organisms to attract panfish to you.  I also read where puting a large sucker or shiner minnow down a hole next to your main one attracts panfish as well.  I think it's supposed to act as a confidence decoy or they think there's food there.

I also have some old guide books with old secrets in them and one of the suggestions is to tie a dozen or so small Colorado blades to your line above your hook a few inches apart.  When you jig your line the blades act as a school of minnows and they'll come over to investigate and they'll see your bait and take it.

I have tried this and it has worked several times when no one else was catching anything.  I like to use the bottom bouncing technique and the flasher blade trick when I go to Mille Lacs and stay in a sleeper house where you don't have any control over the location of where you fish.  I've even attracted tulibee, but they typically seem more interested in the blades over the wax worm or minnow. 

I have thought of drilling several holes close together and dropping down lines with just blades attached to the line to try and simulate a large school of minnows, then just fishing a few feet away, but I'm not sure if that would exceed the two line limit in MN. 

[FullTmeDad]

Any tips for an amature fisherman for fishing without a flasher anything that will help would be greatly appreciated

First...Do some homework, find a map of the body of water you want to fish. One that shows depths, drop offs, inlets, outlets, streams, etc. The DNR has a bunch : http://www.michigan.gov/dnr/0,1607,7-153-30301_31431_32340---,00.html

Now look for "structure", #1 for me are inlets...brooks, streams, springs anything that brings in oxygen. I'll mark a map with 1st, 2nd and 3rd choices and plan my trip from that. Plus, a map will show you access points so you're not walking all day.
Bring your map and a compass to help pinpoint your target spots. You can check depth with a clip on lead...(always keep spares)
It never hurts to put a bait just under the ice if there are trout in the area, or set a tip-up with a big sucker just over the weeds for pike.
A flasher is nice, but a power auger will let you drill all the holes you want and if you have a map and a plan you'll catch fish.
Good Luck
FTD